"For a place inhabited by monsters, they certainly have good taste." I said, looking at a surprisingly well done painting. Like, I could totally see this at my family manor over on floor fifty of this tree.
"Guess even monsters are capable of picking up hobbies. That or they stole it from past shipwrecks." Akari shrugged as she walked past me.
"For now, just stay vigilant in case any monsters appear." Nizhoni said, keeping a steady grip on her crossbow.
There weren't any doors in this hallway so at least we didn't have to worry about any monsters appearing next to us. There also weren't really any hiding spots so if a group of monsters appeared in front of us, there was a low chance we'd be able to hide ourselves. Well, I could probably think of something.
The hallway did have the occasional decoration but they were all gathering dust, clear signs not many monsters go this way. Something which you would get zero complaints from me for.
With each step taken, my anxiousness grew. I knew we had entered at a more empty spot considering the state the wall was in but the fact we were yet to see any kind of monster struck me as wrong. Like despite our stealthy entrance, the monsters somehow knew we managed to get in and were watching us somehow.
As I was beginning to get lost in my thoughts, we finally heard them. Footsteps. I could tell that there was a small group coming my way with the sounds of feet clacking against the ice floor. The three of us had stopped moving entirely and started looking around for any sort of hiding spot.
"What do we do?" Akari asked.
I took a deep breath, "I have an idea but I doubt it'll work."
I grabbed the three of us to the side of the hallway and began chanting a spell. Nizhoni and Akari stood back and watched as the ice in front of us slowly rose from the ground and took the shape of an ice sculpture.
Akari gave me a confused look, "your plan was to hide behind these conveniently shaped ice sculptures?"
"It's a heat of the moment kind of thing!" I said almost too loudly.
Right as we all crouched down behind the statue, the monsters finally turned the corner and began walking to us. As I said earlier, there was a small group of them. None of them really looked powerful but it would still be a good idea to prepare a powerful spell just in case.
The three monsters stopped at the sculpture and stared at it.
"Was that sculpture always there?" One of the monsters asked.
"I don't know. I never come down this way but it's probably been there."
The first monster seemed easy to accept that answer but right as the two of them were about to continue moving along on their patrol, the third monster spoke up.
"Nah, this thing's brand new. Every other piece of art we've seen so far is either worn out like the paintings or has dust on it like the other sculptures." The third monster stepped closer to our sculpture.
Welp, I knew that plan was not going to work. I braced a spell that would make ice spikes shoot out and impale the three of them. Right as I was about to release the spells, the two monsters from behind started to laugh.
"You're always like that man. Always so suspicious of every detail! C'mon, the commander is waiting for us at the mess hall. Let's get there before he chews us out again."
The third monster turned back, "right… sorry."
"Nah man you're good. I thought this would've been a nice short cut but if anything it's just made this trip longer. It's a bad idea to keep him waiting, especially when he returns here after trips."
The three monsters dashed off around the corner, allowing all of us a space to breathe. Akari and Nizhoni looked at me in bewilderment. None of us could believe that actually worked.
"Stop looking at me like that. Did you hear what that monster said about their commander though? About how he just got back from a trip outside?"
Nizhoni nodded, "yeah. It's probably the same monster as the one we saw before."
"Guess that means we should avoid the mess hall at all costs then." Akari mentioned.
The three of us nodded our heads in unison.
"Right then. Where exactly should we even go?" Akari brought up.
"Well, we gotta find where the leading monster is." I answered.
"Right, but how are we going to do that?"
I thought for a moment, "well, since no monster knows we're here, we can continue to sneak around and try to get the jump on a monster. Maybe then we'll be able to squeeze some info out of them."
Nizhoni nodded, "not a bad plan. Saves energy which is something we're gonna need a lot of."
"Let's start looking for monsters then."